Hiqa: Lack of staff at Cork centre for adults with disabilities

Insufficient staffing was causing issues in a Cork city centre for adults with disabilities, having a knock-on effect on training and the provision of activities for residents.

The Cork City North 17 centre, operated by Horizons (formerly the Cope Foundation) was marked compliant in eight areas, not compliant in six and substantially compliant in four in a recent Hiqa inspection.

The inspector mentioned the competence of staff in the centre, saying that they were familiar with the residents and provided a high standard of care, but noted that difficulties had been encountered during periods of reduced staffing resources.

The report said: 

“While the safety of residents was of paramount importance to the team, the ability to provide meaningful activities in the community had been adversely impacted at times. Some staff members had worked additional hours to ensure familiar staff were providing support to the residents.”

The person in charge had recently escalated the risk of staffing resources to senior management, as they currently found it difficult to release staff to complete training requirements, and a number of gaps were identified as a result.

55% of staff did not have up-to-date training in safeguarding, 85% of staff did not have up-to-date training in infection prevention and control, and 80% of staff did not have up-to-date training in fire safety.

As well as the lack of fire training, other issues were found in the fire safety precautions area including a fire door not closing correctly and extensive gaps evident in the records of weekly fire checks, with no documented checks between March 18 and June 10, or between June 26 and August 5.

Many personal care plans were out of date or incomplete, with one resident’s health check assessment having only 52 out of 133 questions completed.

The inspection, undertaken at the end of November last year, noted that an internal six monthly audit had not taken place in the designated centre since February, and performance management of staff during 2024 had also not taken place at the time of the inspection.

The report also noted that opportunities for residents to participate in had been adversely impacted due to the absence of a dedicated activities staff member in the months leading up to the inspection.

Additionally, the provider had not insured written notification had been submitted to the chief inspector within 28 days of the absence of the person in charge.

The previous person to hold the role had ceased to be in the role on July 19, 2024, and although it was a planned departure, a notification was not submitted until August 22, 2024, 42 days after the person in charge had departed their role.

The provider notified the chief inspector in the same late notification that a new person in charge would be taking up the role on September 16, 69 days after the departure of the previous person in charge.

The provider told Hiqa that recruitment had been prioritised, training had taken place, that documentation issues including care plans and reviews would be completed methodologically going forward, and that maintenance work on fire doors was scheduled to be completed by the end of this month.